“I see you labour with some serious thing,And think (like fairy’s treasure) to reveal it,Will cause it vanish.”IV, i, 210–1.louers periury, etc.—that Jove laughed at and overlooked lovers’ perjuries was a familiar proverb. Cf. Massinger,The Parliament of Love, C-G. 192 a: “Jupiter and Venus smile At lovers’ perjuries;” and Shakespeare,Romeo and Juliet, II, ii, 92: “at lovers’ perjuries, They say, Jove laughs.” The saying goes back to Ovid’sArt of Love, book I;—as Marlowe has translated it:“For Jove himself sits in the azure skies,And laughs below at lovers’ perjuries.”IV, ii, 71.On all aduantage take thy life—i. e., “Taking every advantage of you, kill you.”IV, ii, 84. Such whose bloods wrongs, or wrong done tothemselues—the Q.’s regular omission of the possessive apostrophe has in this instance confused later editors in their understanding of the passage. We would writeblood’s,—with the meaning: “Those whom wrongs to kindred or to themselves,” etc.IV, iii, 12.so—there is no direct antecedent, but one is easily understandable from the general sense of what precedes;to be so—i. e., “as you were in thankfulness to the General.”IV, iv, 10.it—another case of a pronoun with antecedent merely implied in the general sense of what precedes;it= “the fact that I am not worthy the looking on, but only,” etc.IV, iv, 30.such defence—i. e., “the defence of such a one.”Such= qualis.IV, iv, 66.To this—i. e., to tears.IV, iv, 70.those fam’d matrones—cf. Massinger inThe Virgin Martyr, C-G. 33 a:“You will rise up with reverence, and no more,As things unworthy of your thoughts, rememberWhat the canonized Spartan ladies were,Which lying Greece so boasts of. Your own matrons,Your Roman dames, whose figures you yet keepAs holy relics, in her historyWill find a second urn: Gracchus’ Cornelia,Paulina, that in death desired to followHer husband Seneca, nor Brutus’ Portia,That swallowed burning coals to overtake him,Though all their several worths were given to one,With this is to be mention’d.”IV, iv, 112.on it—i. e., “on what you say.”IV, iv, 156.be—“be” expresses more doubt than “is” after a verb ofthinking. Cf. Abbott, S. G., § 299.V, i, 5.lay me vp—imprison me.V, i, 7.varlets—the name given to city bailiffs or sergeants. Perhaps here, however, it is applied merely as a term of abuse.V, i, 9.Innes of court man—a member of one of the four Inns of Court (The Inner Temple, The Middle Temple, Lincoln’s Inn, and Gray’s Inn), legal societies which served for the Elizabethan the function which our law-schools perform to-day. Overbury says of the Inns of Court Man, in hisCharacters: “Hee is distinguished from a scholler by a pair of silk-stockings, and a beaver hat, which make him contemn a scholler as much as a scholler doth a school-master.... He is as far behind a courtier in his fashion, as a scholler is behind him.... He laughs at every man whose band sits not well, or that hath not a faire shoo-tie, and he is ashamed to be seen in any mans company that weares not his clothes well. His very essence he placeth in his outside.... You shall never see him melancholy, but when he wants a new suit, or feares a sergeant....”V, i, 13.coming forth—appearance in court, or from prison.V, i, 28.manchets—small loaves or rolls of the finest wheaten bread. There seems to have been a commonplace concerning the huge quantities of bread devoured by tailors. Cf.l. 88below, and Note.V, i, 31.leaue swordmen—i. e., swordmen (swaggering ruffians who claim the profession of arms)on leave. It is possible, however, thatleaueis a misprint (by inversion of a letter) forleane= hungry.V, i, 83.hangers—not “short-swords”, as inl. 31, but here “pendants”, perhaps a part of the hat-band hanging loose, or else loops or straps on the swordbelt, often richly ornamented, from which the sword was hung. Cf. Shakespeare,Hamlet, V, ii, 157–167.V, i, 83.Hell—a place under a tailor’s shop-board, in which shreds or pieces of cloth, cut off in the process of cutting clothes, are thrown, and looked upon as perquisites. Cf. Overbury’sCharacters, A Taylor: “Heediffereth altogether from God; for with him the best pieces are still marked out for damnation, and without hope of recovery shall be cast down into hell.”V, i, 88.Our breakefasts famous for the buttred loaues—Cf. abovel. 28, and Note; also Glapthorne’sWit in a Constable, V, i:“as easily as a TaylorWould do six hot loaves in a morning fasting,And yet dine after.”V, i, 90.vse a conscience—show or feel compunction; be tender-hearted.V, i, 91.hall—a house or building belonging to a guild or fraternity of merchants or tradesmen. At such places the business of the respective guilds was transacted; and in some instances they served as the market-houses for the sale of the goods of the associated members.V, i, 97.compleate Mounsieur—perfect gentleman.V, i, 102.pantofle—slipper; here used figuratively for: the shoe-maker’s profession.V, ii, 27.a barbarous Sythian—Cf. Purchas’Pilgrimage(ed. 1613, p. 333): “They [The Scythians] cut off the noses of men, and imprinted pictures in the flesh of women, whom they overcame: and generally their customes of warre were bloudie: what man soever the Scythian first taketh, he drinketh his bloud: he offereth to the King all the heads of the men he hath slaine in battell: otherwise he may not share in the spoile: the skinnes of their crownes flaid off, they hang at their horse bridles: their skinnes they use to flay for napkins and other uses, and some for cloathing.... These customes were generall to the Scythians of Europe and Asia (for which causeScytharum facinora patrare, grew into a proverbe of immane crueltie, and their Land was justly called Barbarous).”V, ii, 40.made no hornes at me—to “make horns” at any one was the common method of taunting one with having horns,—i. e., with being a cuckold.V, ii, 51.made vp with—set with the expression of.V, ii, 102.by pieces—in part.V, iii, 8.—Charmi’s speech is addressed to Charalois, as is that of Du Croy which follows it.V, iii, 18ff.—M., f. insertwhenafterthatof l. 18. This is probably the correct reading. It would be possible, however, to let the line stand without alteration, if thethatofl. 20be taken as coordinate with thethatof l. 18, introducing a second clause depending onam sorry(instead of correlative withsoto introduce a result-clause). With this reading,left(l. 22) would be taken as an ellipsis forbeing left; with the emended reading, forwas left. Though the construction is in doubt, the sense is easy.V, iii, 22.vndermine—an object,it, is understood,—i. e.,the building of my life.V, iii, 34.her—itswas rare in Elizabethan usage. Cf. Abbott, S. G., §§ 228, 229.V, iii, 46.compassion of—former obsolete construction for “compassion for.” Cf. Shakespeare,Henry VI, Part I, IV, i, 56; “Mov’d with compassion of my country’s wreck.”V, iii, 59.motion—C., f. readmotion’s,—an uncalled-for emendation, since ellipsis ofiswas not infrequent. Cf. Shakespeare,Henry V, IV, i, 197: “’Tis certain, every man that dies ill, the ill [is] upon his own head.”V, iii, 93.and yet the fault kept from me—loose construction, not easily parsed, though the sense is clear.V, iii, 98.As ... to vndergoe—again a loose construction. It should be, properly:That ... he would undergo, etc.V, iii, 107–9.like the fatall gold, etc.—In this passage the two leaders of the Gauls known to history by the same name appear to be confounded—(1): Brennus, who sacked Rome in 390 B. C., and consented to withdraw after receiving a large ransom of gold;—and (2): Brennus, who led the irruption of the Gauls into Greece in the second century B. C., and attempted to despoil Delphi of its treasure, but did not succeed in doing so. The fact that their respective expeditions are said to have borne an immediate sequel of disaster and death for both alike, may be responsible for the dramatist’s mistake.V, iii, 131.homicide—formerly, as here, =murderer.V, iii, 139.in way of—in the manner of.V, iii, 144.the hate betweene his house and mine—cf.III, i, 416.V, iii, 166.more presumptions—C., f. readmere presumptions, which is probably correct. An alternative possibility should be noted, however: thatpresumptionsby mis-reading from the Ms. (or by the mere inversion of au) may be a mis-print for presumptious (presumptuous) =presumptive, in which casemorewould be retained, with the passage to mean: “You must find other proofs to strengthen these, and they must, moreover, be of a nature to give more reasonable grounds for presumption.”V, iii, 174–5.—The last two lines of Charalois’ speech are addressed to his judges; what preceded them to Novall.V, iii, 190.bands—the emendationbawds, proposed by Coxeter and followed by all subsequent editors, seems almost surely correct. “Bawd” prior to 1700 was a term applied to men as well as—and, indeed, more frequently than—to women. Cf. Shakespeare,Hamlet, I, iii, 130.V, iii, 190.tooke—where the common Elizabethan custom of dropping the-eninflectional ending of the past participle rendered a confusion with the infinitive liable, the past tense of the verb was used for the participle. Cf. Abbott, S. G., § 343.V, iii, 193.this matron—i. e., Florimel.V, iii, 205.in Nouall—i. e., “in the person of Novall.”V, iii, 207.Thy challenge now I answere—this phrase would indicate that Romont crosses swords with Pontalier, and after a moment of fencing runs him through; instead of striking him unawares, as the modern stage direction, “Stabs Pontalier,” would imply.V, iii, 226.these—i. e., Aymer, Florimel, and Bellapert.Court. Song, l. 3. first—i. e., “in the front part of,” to meet the customers and be herself an attraction and an object of display, while the husband remains “at tother end” (l. 8) of the store.Court. Song, l. 4.—This is a most unduly long line. It seems probable that, in the Ms. from which the play was printed, the three phrases, “A faire wife,” “a kinde wife,” and “a sweet wife,” werethree variantreadings, which, by mistake, wereallincorporated in the text. Any one of them used alone would give a perfectly normal line.GLOSSARYaffection, bent, inclination,penchant.I, ii, 32.allow, command, approve.IV, i, 9.answere, correspond to.III, i, 82.arrests, stoppages, delays.III, i, 43.author, to be the author, of a statement; to state, declare, say.IV, ii, 19.baffled, disgraced, treated with contumely.IV, i, 112.balm, an aromatic preparation for embalming the dead.II, i, 79.band, a collar or ruff worn round the neck by man or woman.II, ii, 77; etc.banquerout, early spelling ofbankrupt, which was originallybanke rota(see N. E. D. for variants underbankrupt), from Italianbanca rotta, of whichbanquerouteis the French adaptation. The modern spelling,bankrupt, with the second part of the word assimilated to the equivalent Latinruptus, as inabrupt, etc., first appears in 1543.I, i, 127;ii, 88.black, a funereal drapery.II, i, 51;ii, 117.brabler, a quarrelsome fellow; a brawler.III, i, 358.braue, in loose sense of approbation, good, excellent, worthy, etc.I, ii, 256;292; etc.bumfiddles, beats, thumps.IV, i, 140.cabinet, a secret receptacle; a jewel-box.II, ii, 34.canniball, a strong term of abuse for “blood-thirsty savage.”IV, iv, 185.Caroch, coach.II, ii, 28;IV, ii, 95.case, exterior; skin or hide of an animal, or garments—hence, perhaps,disguise.V, i, 73.censure, a judicial sentence.I, ii, 53.—in the sense ofsentence to punishment.II, ii, 166;172.chalenge, demand.V, ii, 88.change, exchange.III, i, 117.—chang’d,I, i, 66.charges, expenses.I, ii, 191.charitable, benevolent, kindly, showing Christian charity.I, i, 117.circumstance, the adjuncts of a fact which make it more or less criminal.V, iii, 52.close, close-fitting.IV, i, 124.cold, unimpassioned, deliberate.V, ii, 86.coloured, specious.III, i, 139.comely, becoming, proper, decorous.III, i, 163.complement, observing of ceremony in social relations; formal civility, politeness.III, i, 439.conference, subject of conversation.II, ii, 139.conscious, inwardly sensible of wrong-doing.III, i, 353.—aware.V, ii, 67.consists, lies, has its place.III, i, 489.courtesie, generosity, benevolence.V, iii, 73.Courtship, courteous behavior, courtesy.III, i, 276;439.credits, reputations, good name.I, ii, 67.curiosity, elegance of construction.II, ii, 67.curious, careful, studious, solicitous.IV, i, 102.—made with art or care; elaborately or beautifully wrought; fine; “nice”.Cit. Song.l. 5.dag, a kind of heavy pistol or hand-gun.IV, i, 170s. d.debate, strife, dissension, quarreling.III, i, 443.decent, becoming, appropriate, fitting.I, ii, 77.defeatures, defeats.I, ii, 177.demonstrauely, in a manner that indicates clearly or plainly.IV, i, 55.deserued, deserving.II, ii, 189.determine, decree.II, ii, 172.detract, disparage, traduce, speak evil of.I, ii, 271.dis-become, misbecome, be unfitting for or unworthy of.V, iii, 47.discouery, revelation, disclosure.III, i, 91;V, iii, 194.distaste, estrangement, quarrel.IV, ii, 1.—offence.V, iii, 15.doubtfull, fearful, apprehensive.IV, ii, 88.doubts, apprehensions.III, i, 246.earth’d, buried.II, i, 126.edify, gain instruction; profit, in a spiritual sense.IV, i, 62.engag’d, obliged, attached by gratitude.III, i, 242.engender, copulate.III, i, 423.engine, device, artifice, plot.III, i, 157.ensignes, signs, tokens, characteristic marks.I, i, 144.entertaine, accept.V, ii, 82.entertainment, provision for the support of persons in service—especially soldiers; pay, wages.I, ii, 188.ernest, a sum of money paid as an installment to secure a contract.V, i, 44.except against, take exception against.IV, iii, 19.exhaust, “draw out”; not as to-day, “use up completely.”II, i, 103.expression, designation.V, i, 33.factor, one who has the charge and manages the affairs of an estate; a bailiff, land-steward.I, ii, 135. Cf. Shakespeare,Henry IV, Part I, III, ii, 147: “Percy is but my factor,” etc.familiar, well acquainted.I, i, 3.feares, fears for.IV, ii, 89.fit, punish; visit with a fit penalty.III, i, 253.forespake, foretold, predicted.III, i, 251.fortunes, happens, chances, occurs.V, ii, 16.gallimaufry, contemptuous term for “a man of many accomplishments”; a ridiculous medley; a hodge-podge.II, ii, 95.gamesters, those addicted to amorous sport.III, i, 33.Geometrician, one who measures the earth or land; a land-surveyor.IV, i, 21.get, beget.I, ii, 246.gigglet, a lewd, wanton woman.III, i, 308.honestie, honorable character, in a wide, general sense. To the Elizabethan it especially connotedfidelity,trustiness.II, i, 115.horslock, a shackle for a horse’s feet; hence applied to any hanging lock; a padlock.IV, i, 78.humanity, learning or literature concerned with human culture: a term including the various branches of polite scholarship, as grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and esp. the study of the ancient Latin and Greek classics.II, i, 3.humour, used here in the specific Jonsonian sense of a dominating trait or mood.I, i, 124;ii, 31.imployments, services (to a person).I, ii, 28.individually, indivisibly, inseparably.II, ii, 316.Infanta, the title properly applied to a daughter of the King and Queen of Spain or Portugal.IV, i, 75.issues, actions, deeds.II, ii, 198.kinde, agreeable, pleasant, winsome.Court. Song.l. 4.Lard, an obsolete form ofLord.IV, i, 2. Cf. Congreve,Old Bach., II, iii: “Lard, Cousin, you talk oddly.”League, probably used forLeaguer(so emended by M., f.): a military camp, especially one engaged in a siege.III, i, 175.learnd, informed.III, i, 156.legge, an obeisance made by drawing back one leg and bending the other; a bow, scrape.III, i, 124.lively,living.II, i, 46.—gay, full of life.II, ii, 76.—life-like.II, ii, 232.map, embodiment, incarnation.II, ii, 136. Cf. H. Smith,Sinf. Man’s Search, Six Sermons: “What were man if he were once left to himselfe? A map of misery.”mome, blockhead, dolt, fool.Court. Song, l. 13.monument, sepulchre.I, ii, 212.moue, urge, appeal to, make a request to.IV, iv, 11.next, shortest, most convenient or direct.V, i, 37.nice, petty, insignificant, trifling.III, i, 442.note, show forth; demonstrate.III, i, 504.Obiect, bring forward in opposition as an adverse reason, or by way of accusation.IV, iv, 174.obnoxious, liable, exposed, open, vulnerable.III, i, 354.obsequious, prompt to serve or please, dutiful.V, iii, 90.obseruers, those who show respect, deference, or dutiful attention; obsequious followers.IV, iv, 43.Orphants, obsolete corrupt form ofOrphans.I, ii, 206. It survives in dialect. Cf. James Whitcomb Riley’sLittle Orphant Annie.overcome, usually, “conquer”, “prevail”; but here, “out-do”, “surpass”.I, i, 187.parts, function, office, business, duty. Formerly used in the plural, as here, though usually when referring to a number of persons.I, i, 9;ii, 9;V. iii, 39.—qualities.IV, iv, 105.pious, used in the arch. sense ofdutiful.I, i, 101.practicke, practical work or application; practice as opposed to theory.II, i, 2.Praecipuce(mis-print forprecipice), a precipitate or headlong fall or descent, especially to a great depth.III, i, 464.presently, immediately, quickly, promptly.IV, iv, 89.president[variant ofprecedent], example, instance, illustration.V, iii, 226.preuent, anticipate.I, i, 64;ii, 17;IV, ii, 32.Prouince, duty, office, function; branch of the government.I, ii, 23.punctual, punctilious, careful of detail.IV, i, 42.purl, the pleat or fold of a ruff or band; a frill.II, ii, 77.quick, alive.I, ii, 178.Ram-heads, cuckolds.II, i, 31.recent, fresh.II, i, 19.roaring, riotous, bullying, hectoring.IV, i, 203.sawcily, formerly a word of more serious reprobation than in modern usage: “with presumptuous insolence.”I, ii, 106.scandall, to spread scandal concerning; to defame.I, ii, 58.sect, class, order.V, i, 79.seene, experienced, versed.III, i, 268.seruant, a professed lover; one who is devoted to the service of a lady.II, ii, 40; etc.seruice, the devotion of a lover.III, i, 81;IV, iv, 107.set forth, adorned.IV, iv, 106.skills, signifies, matters.I, ii, 286.snort, snore.Court. Song.l. 12.soft, tender-hearted, pitiful.II, i, 23.sooth’d, assented to; humoured by agreement or concession.V, i, 55.Spittle, hospital.III, i, 210. Cf. Shakespeare,Henry V, II, i, 78; V, i, 86.spleene, caprice.I, i, 49.state, estate.II, ii, 294;III, i, 24;IV, iv, 178;V, iii, 119.submisse, submissive.I, i, 179.take, charm, captivate.I, ii, 206.taske, take to task; censure, reprove, chide, reprehend =tax.I, ii, 64.temper, temperateness, calmness of mind, self-restraint.V, iii, 40.theorique, theory; theoretical knowledge, as opposed to practice.II, i, 2.Thrift, here used in the old sense ofprosperityorsuccess.I, i, 170.toyes, whims, caprices, trifles.III, i, 442.vncivil, unrefined, ill-bred, not polished.III, i, 490.vailes, perquisites.V, i, 83.Visitation, visit.II, ii, 310.wagtaile, a term of familiarity and contempt; a wanton.II, ii, 7.where, whereas.I, i, 71.wittoll, a man who knows of his wife’s infidelity and submits to it; a submissive cuckold.V, iii, 99.wreake, vengeance, revenge.IV, iv, 183;V, ii, 43.BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTEThe Quarto, and the various modern editions and translations ofThe Fatal Dowryhave already been recorded in the opening pages of theIntroduction. In the editions there noted of the collected works of Massinger will be found all the plays which bear his name. (Believe As You Listappears only in Cunningham’s edition of Gifford and in the Mermaid Series’Massinger.) Field’s two independent plays,Woman is a Weathercock(Q. 1612) andAmends for Ladies(Q’s. 1618, 1639), were reprinted by J. P. Collier, London, 1829. They are included in Thomas White’sOld English Dramas, London, 1830; in W. C. Hazlitt’s edition of Dodsley’sOld English Plays, London, Reeves and Turner, 1875; and in the Mermaid Series volume,Nero and Other Plays, with an Introduction by A. W. Verity, London and New York, 1888. All other extant dramas in which either Massinger or Field had a share may be found in any edition of the collected works of Beaumont & Fletcher, with the exception ofSir John van Olden Barnavelt, which appears in vol. II of Bullen’sOld Plays, London, Weyman and Sons, 1883.The stage version ofThe Fatal Dowryby Sheil is printed inFrench’s Acting Edition, vol. 9. Of the related plays,The Lady’s TrialandThe Fair Penitentmay be found in all editions of the collected works respectively of John Ford and Nicholas Rowe;The Fair Penitentis also published along with Rowe’sJane Shorein the Belles Lettres Series, 1907. ForThe Insolvent, seeThe Dramatic Works of Aaron Hill, Esq., 2 vols., 1760. DER GRAF VON CHAROLAISein Trauerspiel von Richard Beer-Hofmannis printed by S. Fischer, Berlin, 1906.The following works have bearing upon the play or its authors:Beck, C.:Phil. Massinger, THE FATALL DOWRY.Einleitung zu einer neuen Ausgabe. Beyreuth, 1906.Boyle, R.:Beaumont, Fletcher and Massinger. Englische Studien, vol. V.Cambridge History of English Literature, The,—vol. VI. Cambridge, 1910.Courthope, W. J.:A History of English Poetry, vol. IV. Macmillan, 1903.Cumberland: His famous comparison ofThe Fatal DowrywithThe Fair Penitent, which originally appeared inThe Observer, Nos. LXXVII–LXXIX, is reprinted in Gifford’s Edition of Massinger.Dictionary of National Biography—Field, by J. Knight;Massinger, by R. Boyle.Fleay, F. G.:A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama(1559–1642). 2 vols. London. Reeves and Turner. 1891.Annals of the Career of Nathaniel Field. Englische Studien, vol. XIII.Genest, John:Some Account of the English Stage from the Restoration in 1660 to 1830. 10 vols. Bath, 1832.Gosse, E. W.:The Jacobean Poets. (Univ. Series). Scribner’s, 1894.Koeppel, E.:Quelenstudien zu den Dramen George Chapman’s, Philip Massinger’s und John Ford’s. Strassburg. 1897.Murray, John Tucker:English Dramatic Companies(1558–1642). 2 vols. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1910.Oliphant, E. F.:The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher. Englische Studien, vols. XIV–XVI. [This is not concerned withThe Fatal Dowry, but contains inquiry into other collaboration work of Massinger and Field in plays of the period, with an analysis of the distinctive characteristics of Massinger (XIV, 71–6) and the same for Field (XV, 330–1).]Phelan, James:On Philip Massinger. Halle. 1878. Reprinted inAnglia, vol. II, 1879.Schelling, F. E.:Elizabethan Drama. 2 vols. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1908.Schwarz, F. H.:Nicholas Rowe’sFAIR PENITENT. A Contribution to Literary Analysis.With a Side-reference to Richard Beer-Hofmann’sGraf von Charolais. Berne. 1907.Stephens, Sir Leslie:Philip Massinger. The Cornhill Magazine. Reprinted inHours in a Library, Third Series. 1879.Swinburne, A. C.:Philip Massinger. The Fortnightly Review. July, 1889.Thorndike, Ashley H.:Tragedy. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1908.Ward, A. W.:A History of English Dramatic Literature. 3 vols. Macmillan. 1899.Wurzbach, W. von:Philip Massinger. Shakesp. Jahrb., vols. XXXV and XXXVI.
“I see you labour with some serious thing,And think (like fairy’s treasure) to reveal it,Will cause it vanish.”
“I see you labour with some serious thing,
And think (like fairy’s treasure) to reveal it,
Will cause it vanish.”
IV, i, 210–1.louers periury, etc.—that Jove laughed at and overlooked lovers’ perjuries was a familiar proverb. Cf. Massinger,The Parliament of Love, C-G. 192 a: “Jupiter and Venus smile At lovers’ perjuries;” and Shakespeare,Romeo and Juliet, II, ii, 92: “at lovers’ perjuries, They say, Jove laughs.” The saying goes back to Ovid’sArt of Love, book I;—as Marlowe has translated it:
“For Jove himself sits in the azure skies,And laughs below at lovers’ perjuries.”
“For Jove himself sits in the azure skies,
And laughs below at lovers’ perjuries.”
IV, ii, 71.On all aduantage take thy life—i. e., “Taking every advantage of you, kill you.”
IV, ii, 84. Such whose bloods wrongs, or wrong done tothemselues—the Q.’s regular omission of the possessive apostrophe has in this instance confused later editors in their understanding of the passage. We would writeblood’s,—with the meaning: “Those whom wrongs to kindred or to themselves,” etc.
IV, iii, 12.so—there is no direct antecedent, but one is easily understandable from the general sense of what precedes;to be so—i. e., “as you were in thankfulness to the General.”
IV, iv, 10.it—another case of a pronoun with antecedent merely implied in the general sense of what precedes;it= “the fact that I am not worthy the looking on, but only,” etc.
IV, iv, 30.such defence—i. e., “the defence of such a one.”Such= qualis.
IV, iv, 66.To this—i. e., to tears.
IV, iv, 70.those fam’d matrones—cf. Massinger inThe Virgin Martyr, C-G. 33 a:
“You will rise up with reverence, and no more,As things unworthy of your thoughts, rememberWhat the canonized Spartan ladies were,Which lying Greece so boasts of. Your own matrons,Your Roman dames, whose figures you yet keepAs holy relics, in her historyWill find a second urn: Gracchus’ Cornelia,Paulina, that in death desired to followHer husband Seneca, nor Brutus’ Portia,That swallowed burning coals to overtake him,Though all their several worths were given to one,With this is to be mention’d.”
“You will rise up with reverence, and no more,
As things unworthy of your thoughts, remember
What the canonized Spartan ladies were,
Which lying Greece so boasts of. Your own matrons,
Your Roman dames, whose figures you yet keep
As holy relics, in her history
Will find a second urn: Gracchus’ Cornelia,
Paulina, that in death desired to follow
Her husband Seneca, nor Brutus’ Portia,
That swallowed burning coals to overtake him,
Though all their several worths were given to one,
With this is to be mention’d.”
IV, iv, 112.on it—i. e., “on what you say.”
IV, iv, 156.be—“be” expresses more doubt than “is” after a verb ofthinking. Cf. Abbott, S. G., § 299.
V, i, 5.lay me vp—imprison me.
V, i, 7.varlets—the name given to city bailiffs or sergeants. Perhaps here, however, it is applied merely as a term of abuse.
V, i, 9.Innes of court man—a member of one of the four Inns of Court (The Inner Temple, The Middle Temple, Lincoln’s Inn, and Gray’s Inn), legal societies which served for the Elizabethan the function which our law-schools perform to-day. Overbury says of the Inns of Court Man, in hisCharacters: “Hee is distinguished from a scholler by a pair of silk-stockings, and a beaver hat, which make him contemn a scholler as much as a scholler doth a school-master.... He is as far behind a courtier in his fashion, as a scholler is behind him.... He laughs at every man whose band sits not well, or that hath not a faire shoo-tie, and he is ashamed to be seen in any mans company that weares not his clothes well. His very essence he placeth in his outside.... You shall never see him melancholy, but when he wants a new suit, or feares a sergeant....”
V, i, 13.coming forth—appearance in court, or from prison.
V, i, 28.manchets—small loaves or rolls of the finest wheaten bread. There seems to have been a commonplace concerning the huge quantities of bread devoured by tailors. Cf.l. 88below, and Note.
V, i, 31.leaue swordmen—i. e., swordmen (swaggering ruffians who claim the profession of arms)on leave. It is possible, however, thatleaueis a misprint (by inversion of a letter) forleane= hungry.
V, i, 83.hangers—not “short-swords”, as inl. 31, but here “pendants”, perhaps a part of the hat-band hanging loose, or else loops or straps on the swordbelt, often richly ornamented, from which the sword was hung. Cf. Shakespeare,Hamlet, V, ii, 157–167.
V, i, 83.Hell—a place under a tailor’s shop-board, in which shreds or pieces of cloth, cut off in the process of cutting clothes, are thrown, and looked upon as perquisites. Cf. Overbury’sCharacters, A Taylor: “Heediffereth altogether from God; for with him the best pieces are still marked out for damnation, and without hope of recovery shall be cast down into hell.”
V, i, 88.Our breakefasts famous for the buttred loaues—Cf. abovel. 28, and Note; also Glapthorne’sWit in a Constable, V, i:
“as easily as a TaylorWould do six hot loaves in a morning fasting,And yet dine after.”
“as easily as a Taylor
Would do six hot loaves in a morning fasting,
And yet dine after.”
V, i, 90.vse a conscience—show or feel compunction; be tender-hearted.
V, i, 91.hall—a house or building belonging to a guild or fraternity of merchants or tradesmen. At such places the business of the respective guilds was transacted; and in some instances they served as the market-houses for the sale of the goods of the associated members.
V, i, 97.compleate Mounsieur—perfect gentleman.
V, i, 102.pantofle—slipper; here used figuratively for: the shoe-maker’s profession.
V, ii, 27.a barbarous Sythian—Cf. Purchas’Pilgrimage(ed. 1613, p. 333): “They [The Scythians] cut off the noses of men, and imprinted pictures in the flesh of women, whom they overcame: and generally their customes of warre were bloudie: what man soever the Scythian first taketh, he drinketh his bloud: he offereth to the King all the heads of the men he hath slaine in battell: otherwise he may not share in the spoile: the skinnes of their crownes flaid off, they hang at their horse bridles: their skinnes they use to flay for napkins and other uses, and some for cloathing.... These customes were generall to the Scythians of Europe and Asia (for which causeScytharum facinora patrare, grew into a proverbe of immane crueltie, and their Land was justly called Barbarous).”
V, ii, 40.made no hornes at me—to “make horns” at any one was the common method of taunting one with having horns,—i. e., with being a cuckold.
V, ii, 51.made vp with—set with the expression of.
V, ii, 102.by pieces—in part.
V, iii, 8.—Charmi’s speech is addressed to Charalois, as is that of Du Croy which follows it.
V, iii, 18ff.—M., f. insertwhenafterthatof l. 18. This is probably the correct reading. It would be possible, however, to let the line stand without alteration, if thethatofl. 20be taken as coordinate with thethatof l. 18, introducing a second clause depending onam sorry(instead of correlative withsoto introduce a result-clause). With this reading,left(l. 22) would be taken as an ellipsis forbeing left; with the emended reading, forwas left. Though the construction is in doubt, the sense is easy.
V, iii, 22.vndermine—an object,it, is understood,—i. e.,the building of my life.
V, iii, 34.her—itswas rare in Elizabethan usage. Cf. Abbott, S. G., §§ 228, 229.
V, iii, 46.compassion of—former obsolete construction for “compassion for.” Cf. Shakespeare,Henry VI, Part I, IV, i, 56; “Mov’d with compassion of my country’s wreck.”
V, iii, 59.motion—C., f. readmotion’s,—an uncalled-for emendation, since ellipsis ofiswas not infrequent. Cf. Shakespeare,Henry V, IV, i, 197: “’Tis certain, every man that dies ill, the ill [is] upon his own head.”
V, iii, 93.and yet the fault kept from me—loose construction, not easily parsed, though the sense is clear.
V, iii, 98.As ... to vndergoe—again a loose construction. It should be, properly:That ... he would undergo, etc.
V, iii, 107–9.like the fatall gold, etc.—In this passage the two leaders of the Gauls known to history by the same name appear to be confounded—(1): Brennus, who sacked Rome in 390 B. C., and consented to withdraw after receiving a large ransom of gold;—and (2): Brennus, who led the irruption of the Gauls into Greece in the second century B. C., and attempted to despoil Delphi of its treasure, but did not succeed in doing so. The fact that their respective expeditions are said to have borne an immediate sequel of disaster and death for both alike, may be responsible for the dramatist’s mistake.
V, iii, 131.homicide—formerly, as here, =murderer.
V, iii, 139.in way of—in the manner of.
V, iii, 144.the hate betweene his house and mine—cf.III, i, 416.
V, iii, 166.more presumptions—C., f. readmere presumptions, which is probably correct. An alternative possibility should be noted, however: thatpresumptionsby mis-reading from the Ms. (or by the mere inversion of au) may be a mis-print for presumptious (presumptuous) =presumptive, in which casemorewould be retained, with the passage to mean: “You must find other proofs to strengthen these, and they must, moreover, be of a nature to give more reasonable grounds for presumption.”
V, iii, 174–5.—The last two lines of Charalois’ speech are addressed to his judges; what preceded them to Novall.
V, iii, 190.bands—the emendationbawds, proposed by Coxeter and followed by all subsequent editors, seems almost surely correct. “Bawd” prior to 1700 was a term applied to men as well as—and, indeed, more frequently than—to women. Cf. Shakespeare,Hamlet, I, iii, 130.
V, iii, 190.tooke—where the common Elizabethan custom of dropping the-eninflectional ending of the past participle rendered a confusion with the infinitive liable, the past tense of the verb was used for the participle. Cf. Abbott, S. G., § 343.
V, iii, 193.this matron—i. e., Florimel.
V, iii, 205.in Nouall—i. e., “in the person of Novall.”
V, iii, 207.Thy challenge now I answere—this phrase would indicate that Romont crosses swords with Pontalier, and after a moment of fencing runs him through; instead of striking him unawares, as the modern stage direction, “Stabs Pontalier,” would imply.
V, iii, 226.these—i. e., Aymer, Florimel, and Bellapert.
Court. Song, l. 3. first—i. e., “in the front part of,” to meet the customers and be herself an attraction and an object of display, while the husband remains “at tother end” (l. 8) of the store.
Court. Song, l. 4.—This is a most unduly long line. It seems probable that, in the Ms. from which the play was printed, the three phrases, “A faire wife,” “a kinde wife,” and “a sweet wife,” werethree variantreadings, which, by mistake, wereallincorporated in the text. Any one of them used alone would give a perfectly normal line.
The Quarto, and the various modern editions and translations ofThe Fatal Dowryhave already been recorded in the opening pages of theIntroduction. In the editions there noted of the collected works of Massinger will be found all the plays which bear his name. (Believe As You Listappears only in Cunningham’s edition of Gifford and in the Mermaid Series’Massinger.) Field’s two independent plays,Woman is a Weathercock(Q. 1612) andAmends for Ladies(Q’s. 1618, 1639), were reprinted by J. P. Collier, London, 1829. They are included in Thomas White’sOld English Dramas, London, 1830; in W. C. Hazlitt’s edition of Dodsley’sOld English Plays, London, Reeves and Turner, 1875; and in the Mermaid Series volume,Nero and Other Plays, with an Introduction by A. W. Verity, London and New York, 1888. All other extant dramas in which either Massinger or Field had a share may be found in any edition of the collected works of Beaumont & Fletcher, with the exception ofSir John van Olden Barnavelt, which appears in vol. II of Bullen’sOld Plays, London, Weyman and Sons, 1883.
The stage version ofThe Fatal Dowryby Sheil is printed inFrench’s Acting Edition, vol. 9. Of the related plays,The Lady’s TrialandThe Fair Penitentmay be found in all editions of the collected works respectively of John Ford and Nicholas Rowe;The Fair Penitentis also published along with Rowe’sJane Shorein the Belles Lettres Series, 1907. ForThe Insolvent, seeThe Dramatic Works of Aaron Hill, Esq., 2 vols., 1760. DER GRAF VON CHAROLAISein Trauerspiel von Richard Beer-Hofmannis printed by S. Fischer, Berlin, 1906.
The following works have bearing upon the play or its authors: